» Leadership

I was listening to Professor Michael Marmot talk today.  He is an epidemiologist and studies what makes us ill / adversely affects our well-being, and to his surprise, discovered that they are one and the same thing. In seeking to find out what caused stress etc in the civil service, he discovered, against all his […][...] read more » How important is how important you are?

I was interviewed yesterday on this topic, with the basic thrust being “What are the different strategies & techniques that help you communicate with Leaders with different management styles?”  It was an interesting conversation, though I have to admit it runs slightly contrary to the way I view these things.  I said that if pushed […][...] read more » Communication and Leadership Style

I found myself pondering a situation today and wondering how I’d handle it and realised that one of the key issues for me was the fact that I had none of the facts in the case and had been offered only a binary choice, take it or leave it.  How you feel about that kind […][...] read more » Choice = Power or How to reduce resistance

I had this question posed today and it hit a nerve as I’d been talking about this the other evening. It’s a good question and I wish it were asked more often. The short version of my answer was “The right answer should be very little, as I have always maintained that Change is the […][...] read more » “What’s the Difference between Management and Change Management?”

I came across this wonderful article in the Telegraph which hypothesises that humans (and to some lesser degree great apes) have a unique ability to learn from each other by copying and this is one key reason for our accelerated progress.  We don’t need to evolve to create new functionality, we can simply reproduce the […][...] read more » Copying IS Genius…

The Boy Scouts motto is “Be Prepared” and certainly we are always being encouraged to to ensure that we are ready for the various things Life and business can throw at us.  However, as this year has shown my family so well, you can’t prepare for every eventuality. I’m sitting here, housebound once more, looking […][...] read more » Preparedness

The other day my brother, who has turned into a fanatical angler, came to take me out for a day’s fishing.  When I was much younger it was something I loved to do but have seldom had the chance to do it in the last 30 years.  He had to lug the now obligatory 2cwt […][...] read more » Gone Fishing

One of the odder aspects of my recent experiences has been that not only have I been trying to pick up the ‘load’ of Carys’s role/work in the home and family but because of my circumstances, having to take an enforced ‘sabbatical’, I have found myself experiencing aspects of her life for myself.  I’m at […][...] read more » Walking a mile in her shoes

We have just had a wonderful week in Tuscany.  We hired a villa located half way up a mountain and there was all the peace and quiet you could wish for.  It seemed to make reflection unavoidable.  One of the things that I found tough was not having someone there to share and explore these […][...] read more » Someone to talk to

I was listening to John Nagl, an ex-lieutenant colonel in the US army, and now counter-insurgency expert speak today about the lessons of the past in this  area, and how what the British did in Malaya could teach us useful lessons in Afghanistan.   He said that you could not be successful without doing two things:- […][...] read more » What counter-insurgency can teach us about change